Hey guys! I built a lamination room in the basement of my parent’s house. I glass about 7-8 boards a year and mostly do repairs in this room. In recent weeks, my parents started raising concerns about fumes from the epoxy spreading in the house. I was never worried about it since I wear a great mask when I am working and I do not use Poly at all. Online information about epoxy fumes vary widely depending on the source. What do you guys think? what type of ventilation should be safe for indoors laminating? is it worth to invest in a big vent system? I almost exclusively use Resin Research surfer system and sometimes Entropy resin and never do any sanding in this room. I have a separate shed for shaping and sanding.
I think most of the issues are related to “contact sensitivity” with the resin/hardener mix.
For Resin,
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Inhalation
Systemic
I believe the hardener is the primary cause of contact sensitivity and should be used with care.
From the folks at Entropy:
I see in my head three things that could help (I am not an expert):
-make sure the glassing space is not hooked to the rest of the house via supply and return vents/registers for forced air heat or cooling.
-Devise a safe way to ‘air our’ the space directly outdoors after the board has cured.
-Discuss the epoxy fume reduction plan with the parents, make sure they are OK and on-board to keep the peace and your glassing space.
Google or duck/duck around and educate your parents. A lot of guys don’t even wear a mask when laminating with Epoxy. The lack of odor and mostly benign hazards when laminating with Epoxy is one of the biggest reasons people use it. Also; Every Epoxy manufacturer makes a “Bio” formula these days. Even safer.
I can’t speak for RR or Entropy resin, but I experienced respiratory problems after being exposed to other brand epoxies . I don’t have any data to share , but I try to be not around during the curing phase , and I switched to using masks on top of protecting the skin when using epoxies .
I consider them as toxic chemicals. If somebody in your house feels discomfort I’m not sure if arguing with data sheets is doing you a big favor. As far as I understood bio content in " bio resin " does not refer to being any different in those realms-the source for the resin is not based on petrochemicals in the first place.
Don’t want to get hysterical here , I think if you find a solution to direct the airstream out of the house there should be no big investment necessary.
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@RES I always glass with a 3M 5201 so I am not bothered by the fumes at all personally. I think the concerns are more based into the fumes spreading in the house. I do have a window that I could equip with a small fan simply to create an airflow. I would like to get @Resin_Research 's 2 cents on it.
Resin Research’s SDS (Safety Data Sheets) are their “legal $0.02” about the fumes and other safety hazards.
Whether or not people use safety equipment is “personal choice.”
Pretty sure the active compounds/ingredients used in various epoxy formulations have the same safety liabilities.
This is a link to the Safety Data Sheets for all Resin Research Products.
And some quick science:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cod.12280
A fan in the window sounds like a great idea since the primary suggestion for epoxy is to use ‘in a well ventilated area’. I would use it to draw air out of the small room rather than blow air in.
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Novoc epoxy can be use without mask in well ventilate space if no use of solvent. Power fan to push air outside and at least opposit free opening to let fresh air intake.
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Yes; Air out—-Air in. Just plain ol’ “common sense”. And a so called “well ventilated room”.
Yes nothing incredible. For my engineer work i had to design ventilation and dust collection for industrial process so i learned some basics.
For a shape/lam (epoxy) room we need to change all air at least 20x each hour in working zone. Best is to intake fresh from ceiling over worker, to push down polluant and to evacuate at ground. Air speed around worker at best should be 0.45m/s.
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I have also seen airflow from ceiling to floor used in industrial areas that had clean room requirements.
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